UPDATE 2-Irish bankrupt Quinn escapes jail sentence again

July 20, 2012|Reuters

By Sarah O'Connor

DUBLIN, July 20 (Reuters) - Bankrupt Irish businessman SeanQuinn was spared a jail sentence again on Friday and given onelast chance to cooperate with a bank trying to seize assets heis hiding abroad, but his son and nephew were sentenced to threemonths in prison.

Ireland's former richest man has come to personify the boomand bust of Ireland's now stricken economy. The ruling means nomajor figure has to date been jailed over the collapse ofIreland's economy, despite billions of euros in losses.

Quinn, whose 4 billion euro ($4.9 billion) business empirecollapsed after a disastrous investment in the now failed AngloIrish Bank, was found guilty of contempt of court last month forviolating an order not to block the bank from seizing 500million euros worth of assets he had hidden abroad.

Lawyers for the now state-owned bank told the high court that Quinn, 65, was still preventing the bank, to which he owesbillions of euros, from seizing his foreign assets.

Quinn, his arms folded, sat beside his son, Sean, at theback of the packed courtroom as the judge read out her ruling.

She held off any punitive measures against Quinn to allowhim time to comply with court orders to cooperate with the bank,echoing a similar move last month, where he was ordered todisclose information regarding assets located as far afield asRussia, Ukraine and Belize.

Justice Elizabeth Dunne sentenced Quinn's son and hisnephew, who were also found guilty of contempt, to three monthsjail and brushed off allegations of a "medieval approach" byQuinns' lawyers, saying it was a way of encouraging compliancewith the orders.

She described their contempt as "outrageous" and wasunimpressed with "a lack of openness and frankness on the partof the Quinns" throughout the trial.

LOCAL HERO

Quinn, still regarded by some as a local hero for creatingthousands of jobs in his home county of Cavan, turned a ruralquarrying operation on his family farm into a global businessempire, only to become the subject of Ireland's largest bankruptcy order, four years after becoming its richest man.

His use of loans to make the ill-fated investments in theformer Anglo has resulted in the bank pursuing him for debts ofalmost 3 billion euros in a global treasure hunt from courtroomsin Dublin to the British Virgin Islands.

The bank's lawyers had previously had suggested that Quinn'sson and nephew could be jailed while Quinn himself stayed freeto carry out the court's orders.

"This almost medieval approach to holding the son to seewhat the chieftain father will do is inappropriate," said BrianO'Moore, senior counsel for the Quinns.

Sean Quinn, who choked back tears when giving evidence, tolda court earlier this year that he was down to his last 11,000euros, an aging Mercedes and 166 acres of land.

"In light of all the evidence I've heard up to now I'm notimpressed by the suggestion that what they (the Quinns) havedone to date is a satisfactory way of dealing with matters," thejudge said.

"I find it difficult to accept their helplessness."

Quinn declined to comment on the verdict as he left thecourt on Friday, while police later took his son to prison.

Quinn's nephew Peter was still at large when the verdict wasread out after he failed to show up to court, relaying a messageto his lawyers that he was sick. The judge issued a warrant forhis arrest and directed the police to bring him to court.

The bank's lawyers said there had been a very significantfailure to comply with the court's order to disclose informationabout Quinn's assets.

"The bank is in the difficult position that it still wantsto have a coercive element, ultimately its objective is to getthe assets returned, but the defendants seem to want to keephold of the assets and spend some time in jail," said PaulGallagher, counsel for the bank.